De Bello Turcico who said that the Emperour of Germany was Rex Regum meaning that his Princes were so great men The King of Spaine was Rex Hominum because his People would obey their Prince in any reasonable moderation The King of England was Rex diabolorum because the subjects had there divers times deprived their Kings of their Crowns and Dignity But the King of France was Râ—…x asinorum in as much as his people did beare very heavy Bâ—…thens of Taxes and Impositions In this Kingdome of France is one great Misery to the Subjects that the places and Officers of Justice are ordinarily bought and sold the beginning whereof was this Lewis the twelfth who was called a Father of the Country began to pay the debts of his Predecessor Charls the seventh which were very great and intending to recover unto France the Dukedome of Millain and minding not to burden his people further than was need thought it a good course to set at sale all the Offices of the Crown but with the places of Justice he did not meddle But his successors after him took occasion also to make great profit of them witness the Author contra Machiavel l. 1. c. 1. By the customes of that Country the King of France hath not that absolute power to muster and presse out Souldiers as in England and some other places of Christendome the Princes have But the manner is when the King will set forward any Military Service he sendeth abroad his Edicts or causeth in Cities and good Towns the Drum to be strucken up and whosoever will voluntarily follow he is enrolled Notwithstanding he wanted few Souldiers because the Noble and Gentlemen of France do hold it their duty and highest honour both to attend the King unto the wars and to beare their own charges yearely for many months The person of the King of France hath in former times been reputed so sacred that Guicciardine saith of them that their people have regarded them in that respect of devotion as if they had been demi-gods And Machiavel in his Questions upon Livie saith that they doted so much upon their Kings that they thought every thing did become them which they did and that nothing could be more disgracefull than to give any intimation that such or such a thing was not well done by their King But this opinion is much now decayed the Princes of the bloud are in the next ranke under the King himself There be many and very rich goodly Cities in France but the chiefest of all is Paris called Lutetia quasi Luto sita as some have merrily spoken which place is especially honoured first by the presence of the King most commonly keeping Court and Residence there Secondly by the great store of goodly houses whereof part belong to Noblemen and part are houses of Religion Thirdly by the University which is incomparably the greatest most ancient and best filled of alâ—… France Fourthly in that it is the chiefe Parliament City of that Kingdome without the Ratification of which Parliament at Paris Edicts and Proclamations coming from the King are not held authenticall Fifthly by the great Traffique of all kind of Merchandize which is used in that place The Parliament Cities in France are places where their Termes are kept and in severall Provinces are seven unto which the causes of inferiour Courts within their distinct Provinces may be brought by appeale but the Parliament of Paris hath that Prerogative that appeales from all Courts of the Kingdome do lie there That which we call our Parliament in England is amongst them tearmed Conventus Ordinum or the States France in ancient time as Caesar reporteth in the first of his Commentaries was divided into three parts Aquitania which was towards the West Celtica towards the North and West and Belgica which is towards the North. Belgium is sometime called Gallia inferior and sometime Germania inforior but we commonly call it the Low-Countries the Government whereof at this day is not at all under France but Gallia Celtica and Aquitania are under the French King The ancient Inhabitants of this Country were the Gaules who possessed not only all that we now call France being the greatest part of that the Romans called Gallia Transalpina but also a good part of Italy which they call Gallia Cisalpina a people whose beginnings are unknown this of them is certaine that they were a Nation of valourâ—… for they not only sackt Rome buâ—… also carried their conquering armeâ—… into Greece where they sate downâ—… and were called by the Name oâ—… Gallogrecians or Galathians Some report also that they enâ—… tred into Spaine and subdued anâ—… inhabited that part which was calâ—… led Lusitania now Portugallia buâ—… howsoever their former victoriâ—… and greatnesse they were by Iuliâ—… Caesar subdued and made a Provinâ—… of the people of Rome and so coâ—… tinued under the Romane Empiâ—… till about four hundred yeares afâ—… ter Christ when in the ruine an dismembring of the Roman Empirâ—… the French invaded Gaule and erâ—… cted a Monarchy which hath coâ—… tinued to this day in the successioâ—… of sixty four Kings of three sevâ—… ral races that is to say the Merâ—… vingians Carolovingians and Capâ—… vingians about twelve hundre years and now flourisheth undeâ—… Lewis the 13. the now raigning Kâ—… of France Although the French have done many things worthily out of their own Countrey in the East against the Saracens although they have â—…or a while held Sicily the Kingdome of Naples and the Dutchy of Millaine yet it hath been observed of them that they could never make good their footing beyond the Alpes or in other for reign Regions Howbeit in it self France is one of the strongest Kingdomes in all Europe at this day That which we commonly call the Low-Countries containeth seventeen several Provinces whereof the most part have several titles and Governours as the Dukedome of Brabant the Earledome of Flanders c. Of which the inheritance at several times did fall on Daughters who being married unto the Heire of some of the other Provinces did in the end bring the whole Country into one entire Government which was commonly called by the name of the Dukedome of Burgundy and yet so that in the uniting of them together it was by composition agreed that the severall Provinces should retaine their severall ancient Laws and Liberties which is the reason yielded why some of those Provinces in our age thinke themselves freed from obedience unto the King of Spain unto whom by inheritance they did descend because he hath violated their liberties to the keeping whereof aâ—… the first composition he was bound When this whole Country did be long unto the Crown of France the Dukedome of Burgundy was bestowed by Philip de Valois K. of France unto John de Valois a younger Soâ—… of his from whom by descent iâ—… came at last to Charles the Bold otherwise Proud Duke of Burgundy who left one
only Daughter and she was married to Maximilian the Emperour of the house of Austria from whom the inheritance descended unto Charles the fifth Emperour who yeelding it over to his Son Philip the second did charge him to intreat that people well which he forgetting to do under pretence of rooting out the profession of Religion did intangle himselfe and all that Countrey with a very long bloudy and wearisome warre There is no part of Europe which for the quantity of the ground doth yeeld so much riches and commodities as the Low-Countries do besides their infinite store of shipping wherein they exceed any Prince of Christendome They were in time past accounted a very heavy dull people and unfit for the Wars but their continual combating with the Spaniards hath made them now very ingenious ful of action and managers of great causes appertaining to fights either by sea or land The 17 Provinces are these Brabāt Gelderlād Artois Valencois Luxenburg Flanders Henault Lile Namurce Holland Zeland Tornabū Tornacetium Mechlin Utrecht and the East and West Freezeland France hath many petty Governments that do border upon it as the Dukedome of Savoy the State of the Switzers the Dukedome of Lorraine the Burgundians or Walloons against all which the King is forced to keep his frontier Towns There is nothing more famous in this Kingdome then the Salique law whereby it is provided that no woman nor the heire of her as in her right shall injoy the Crown of France but it goeth alwaies to the Heire Male. The Author of the Commentaries against Machiavel reputeth it a great blessing of GOD that they have the Salique Law in France and that not so much saith he because Woman by the infirmity of their Sex are unfit to govern for therein many men who have enjoyed Kingdomes have been and are very defective but because by that meanes the Crowne of France is never endangered by Marriage of a forraigner to come under the subjection of a stranger And this is the opinion of Philip de Comines in the 8 Booke of his Commentaries This Law is very ancient among them so that it cannot certainly be defined when it was Enacted but by vertue thereof Edward the 3. King of England and his Heires were cut off from inheriting the Crowne of France whereunto by marriage of a Daughter he was Heire in generall And by reason of this Law Henry the fourth late King of France rather injoyed that Dominion than the Sonne of the Duke of Lorraigne who-was neerer of blood by descending from the Elder Daughter of King Henry the second The Switzers are a People called in old time Helvetii who have no Noblemen or Gentlemen among them but only the Citizens of their Townes the yearely Officers whereof and their Council do govern their State There are in Switzerland 23 Cities or Towns which they call their Cantons although some rather think that name properly doth signifie the Rulers of those Towns and of them some do retain to this day the Romish Religion but some others have embraced the Gospel The Country where they live is not very fertile and being farre from any Seas they have no vent for their people but by sending them forth as hired souldiers which for their pay do fight oftentimes in Italy and France and sometimes in Germany Neare unto one part of them standeth Geneva which is challenged by the Duke of Savoy to have heretofore belonged to his Dominion but they pretend themselves to be a free City and by the help of Protestant Princes but especially by some of the Helvetians do so maintain it In this place there is a rare Law that if any Malefactor who hath fled out of his own Country be convinced of any grievous crime he suffereth there as if he were in his own Country Which they are forced to do because their Cities would be full of all sorts of Runnagates in as much as they stand on the confines of divers Princes and States Of Germany THE next Countrey unto France on the East side is Germany which is bounded on the West with France and the Low-Countries on the North with Denmark and the Danish Seas on the East with Prussia Polonia and Hungary on the South-East with Istria and Illyricum on the South with the Alpe-hils and with Italy The Governour General of this Country is called the Emperour of Germany who is chosen by three spiritual Princes the Archbishop of Collen called Coloniensis the Archbishop of Ments called Moguxtinus and the Archbishop of Trevers called Treverensis and three temporall Princes the Duke of Saxony the Marquesse of Brandenburgh and the Count Palatine of Rhene which if they cannot agree as to make a major part in their election then the King of Bohemia hath also a voice whereof it commeth to be said that there be seven Princes Electors of the Empire The manner of the choice of the Emperor was established by a Decree which is commonly called Bulla Aurea which was made by Charles the 4 Emperor of Germany and King of Bohemia wherein he doth set down all the circumstances of the Election of the Emperor and appointeth the King of Bohemia to be Sacri Imperii Archipincerna which is the Cup-bearer The 3 Bishops of Colen Ments and Trevers to be the Arch-Chancellours of the three several parts of the Empire the Count Palatine of the Rhene to be Sacri Imperii Archidapifer which should have the setting on of the first dish the Duke of Saxony to be Sacri Imperii Archimariscallus whose office is to beare the sword and the Marquesse of Brandenburgh to be Sacri Imperii Archi-Camerarius or great Chamberlaine all which Offices they supply on the day of the Emperours Coronation It appears by all the Romane Stories that in times past the Empire went sometimes by succession as unto the Sons of Constantine and Theodosius sometimes by Election and that either of the Senate or of the Souldiers who oftentimes also in mutiny did elect men unworthy yet such as fitted their purpose But now of late the Electors do choose some Prince of Christendome who hath otherwise a Dominion of his own which may helpe to back out the Empire and therein of late hath appeared the great cunning of that which we call the house of Austria whose greatest title within this 300 yeares was to be a mean Count of a mean place namely the County of Haspurg But since that time they have so planted and strengthened themselves that there have been 7 or 8 Emperours lately of that family but the Empire is not tied unto them as may appeare by the possibility which the Duke of Saxony and Francis the great King of France had to ascend to that Dignity When Charls the fifth was chosen Emperour one of the meanes whereby the possession hath been continued to that house hath been the electing of some one to be Rex Romanorum whilest
another of his Family was Emperour which Charls the fifth effected in his life time for his Brother Ferdinandus who after succeeded him and that hath been the attempt of Albertus late Cardinal and now Arch-Duke of Austria that he might be established in the hope of the Empire during the life of his brother 〈◊〉 the Second now Emperour and King of Bohemia Rex Romanorum is he who is fâ—…rre already invested in title to the Empire so that upon the death resignation or deposition of the then being Emperour he is immediately to succeed He who is now Emperor of Germany is called Caesar or Romani Imperii Imperator but very improperly in as much as the case is farre different from that which was when the Romane Empire did flourish for then the Territories thereof were very great all under the Regiment of one man unless it pleased him to associate to himself some other But Theodosius did divide the Empire into two soveraignties which were called the East and West Empires made Constantinople to be the chief seat of Arcadius one of his sons and Rome to be the principal City of Honorius the other which Westerne Empire continued in his glory but a while for the Gothes and Lombards and other barbarous People did both over-run it and as good as extinguish it in the which case it continued to the dayes of Charles the Great who revived it again but although there was some shew of Dominion belonging unto him in Italy yet his principal residence was in France and his successours after him removed it into Germany so that properly he is now to be called Imperator Germanorum It was a great policy of the Bishops of Rome that the Emperour was wrought to leave Italy and keep himselfe in Germany for the Popes did not like to have a strong Neighbour so near who might at his pleasure chastise or depose them if he saw good And the eunning of those Popes was such also that they weakned the state of the Emperor exceeding much in Germany by giving great exemptions to the Princes thereof insomuch that Munster rightly complaineth The Emperor beareth the Spread Eagle with two heads noting the East and West Empire but saith he one of the heads is quite pulled off and so be almost all the feathers and in the other head although life remaineth yet there is little spirit or vigour Surius in his Commentaries of the year 1530. reporteth that to the Emperour of Germany belongeth three Crownes The one of Silver which intendeth the Kingdome of Germany The second of Iron which is for the Kingdome of Lombardy And the third of Gold which is for the Sacred Romane Empire In Germany all are at a kind of commandement of the Emperour but most of the Princes otherwise take on them as absolute Governours in their Dominions so that they have liberty of Religion they do make Lawes they do raise souldiers they do stampe money with their own pictures as absolute Princes so doth the Duke of Saxony the Arch-Bishop of Colen and the rest The Princes of Germany came to that great strength of theirs by meanes of a base and inferior man who aspiring to the Empire whereof he was unworthy was content to release unto the Princes almost all kind of their service and duty so that their subjection since that time is little more then titulary yielding only very small maintenance to the Empire either in tribute souldiers or otherwise and albeit sometimes they refuse not to come by themselves or their Agents to the Diets and Parliaments holden by the Emperour yet that is as much for the safeguard of themselves from the invasion of the Turk who is not farre from them as for any other respect and the pay which they allow in such cases is rather held by them to be a contribution than any imposition to be admitted by duty yet there is extant a book where the particulars are mentioned how the Princes and free Cities are bound to maintaine upon their own charge three thousand eight hundred forty two horses and sixteen thousand two hundred foot for the service of the Emperour when he shall see cause but how smal a trifle is that in respect of the strength of so huge a Country The Princes themselves are so strong many of them that they dare encounter with any who oppugn them insomuch that whereas Charls the fifth was doubtless the greatest Emperour that had been from the daies of Charles the Great yet the Duke of Saxony and the Lantsgrave of Hassia with some few Cities which were confederate with them did dare to oppose themselves against the said Charles and entring the field with him did oftentimes put him to great inconveniences yea it is supposed by some that howsoever he had a hand upon these two yet his inability to match the rufling of some of those Princes was not the least cause why he resigned the Empire to his brother Ferdinando The manner of Germany is that the Title of Nobility which is in the Father commonly is imparted to all the Sonnes so that every Sonne of a Duke of Saxony is called Duke of Saxony and every Child of the Count of Mansfield is honored by the name of Count or Countesâ—…e of Mansfield but in the eldest House the chief Livelyhood doth remaine for keeping upright the dignity of the Family There are also Free States and Cities which have the same Authority as Argentine Franckeford and others This is to be noted of the Germanes that they may boast this above other more Westernly Nations of Europe that they are an unmixed Nation for whereas the Lombards and Gothes at severall times have set down in Italy and mixed themselves with the people thereof the Gothes Vandals and Saracens in Spaine the Francks in Gaule or France and the Normanes also the Saxons Angles Danes and Normanes in Great Britaine they have been free from such inundation and mixture yea many of the people that have afflicted and inhabited these other Nations have come from thence so that therein Germany hath an advantage of these other Nations that have been subject hereunto Of Italy ON the South side of the Alpes and Germany lyeth Italy stretching it selfe out at length toward the South and East It hath on the South side the Iland of Sicilia on the East that part of the Mediterranean which is called Mare Adriaticum or Mare superum which severeth Italy from Grecia on the West side that part of the Mediterranean which is called Mare Tyrrhenum or Mare Inferum and the upper or more Northen part of it neer Liguria Mare Ligusticum This Country for the figure thereof is by some likened unto a long leafe of a tree It hath in the middle of it which goeth all in length a mighty mountain named Mons Apenâ—…inus which is likened unto the Spina or Ridge-bone of the back Out of this Hill spring
Alexandria in Egypt and from thence dispersed into Christendome by the Venetians which spices and Apothecaries drugs are found to be farre worse than before time they were by reason of the great moisture which they take on the water by reason of the long navigation of the Portugals by the back parts of Africa This is the sea through the which Solomon did send for his gold and other precious Merchandise unto the East Indies and not to the West-Indies as some lately have disputed Whereout the vanity of that opinion may appeare that America and the West Indies were known in the time of Solomon For if he had sent thither his course had been along the Mediterranean and through the straits of Gibraltar commonly called Fretum Herculium between Spain Barbary But the Scripture telleth that the Navy which Solomon sent forth was built at Ezion Geber which is there also said to stand on the Red Sea So his course might be East-ward or South-ward and not West-ward In the Desart of Arabia is the Mount Horeb which by some is supposed to be the same that is called Mount Sinai where they think it was that Abraham should have offered up his sonne Isaac But this is certaine that it is the place where God in the wildernesse did give unto the people of Israel his Law of the ten Commandements in thundering lightning and great earth quake in most fearefull manner Of Africke and Egypt FRom Arabia and Palestina toward the West 〈◊〉 A fricke having on the North side from the one end of it to the other the Mediterranean sea The greatest p rt of which Coun try although it hath been guessed at by Writers in former time yet because of the great heat of it lying for the most part of it under the Zona Torrida and or the Wildernesses therein it was in former time supposed by many not to be much inhabited but of certainty by all to be very little discovered till the Portugals of late began their navigation on the backe side of Africa to the East Indies So exact a description is therefore not to be looked for as hath been of Asia and Europe Joining to the Holy Land by a little Istmos in the Countrey of Egypt which is a land as fruitful as any almost in the world although in these daies it doth not answer to the fertilty of former times This is that which in the time of Joseph did relieve Canaan with corne and the family of Jacob which did so multiply in the land of Egypt that they were grown to a huge multitude when God by Moses did deliver them thence This Countrey did yield exceeding abundance of corne unto the City of Rome whereupon Egypt as well as Sicilia was commonly called Horreum populi Romani It is observed from all antiquity that almost never any raine did fall in the land of Egypt Whereupon the raining with thunder and lightning and fire running on the ground was so much more strange when God plagued Pharaâ—…h in the daies of Moses But the flowing of the River Nilus over all the Countrey their Cities onely and some few hils excepted doth so water the Earth that it bringeth forth fruit abundantly The flowing of which river yearly is one of the greatest miracles of the world no man being able to yield a sufficient and assured reason thereof although in Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus many probable causes and opinions are assigned thereof That there doth not use any rain to fall in Egypt besides other heathen testimonies and experiences of Travellers may be gathered out of the Scripture for in the 10 Chapter of Deuteronomy God doth make an Antithesis between the Land of Canaan and Egypt saying that Egypt was watered as a man would water a garden of herbes that is to say by the hand But they should come into a Land which had hills and mountaines and which was watered with the raine of Heaven and yet some have written that ever now and then there is mists in Egypt which yield though not raine yet a pretty dew It is noted of this River that if in ordinary places it doe flow under the height of fifteen cubits that then for want of moisture the earth is not fruitfull and if it doe flow above seventeen cubits that there is like to be a dearth by reason of the abundance of moisture the water lying longer on the Land than the inhabitants do desire It is most probably conjectured that the falling and melting of snow from those hils which be called Lunae Montes do make the increase of the River Nilus And the custome of the people in the Southerne parts of Arabia is that they do receive into ponds and dams the water that doth hastily fall and the same they let out with sluces some after some which causeth it ordinarily to come down into the plaines of Egypt For the keeping up of these Dammes the Countrey of Egypt hath time out of mind paid a great tribute to Prester-John Which when of late it was denied by the Turke Prester John caused all the sluces to be let go on the sudden whereby he marveliously annoied and drowned up a great part of the Countrey of Egypt In Egypt learning hath been very ancient but especially the knowledge of Astronomy and Mathematicks whereof before the time of Tully their Priests would report that they had the discent of 1500 yeares exactly recorded with observations Astrological which as it is a fable unlesse they do reckon their yeares by the Moone as some suppose they did every month for a year so it doth argue knowledge to have been among them very ancient Their Priests had among them a kinde of writing and describing of things by picture which they did call their Hieroglyphica This in times past was a Kingdome and by the Kings thereof were built those great Pyramides which were held to be one of the seven wonders of the world being mighty huge buildings erected of exceeding height for to shew the magnificence of their founders There is part of two or three of them remaining unto this day Divers learned men are at this day of opinion that when the children of Israel were in Egypt and so oppressed by Pharaoh as is mentioned in the beginning of the booke of Exodus their labour in burning of bricke was partly imployed to the erecting of some of those Pyramides but the scripture doth onely mention walling of Cities The founders of these Pyramides were commonly buried in or under them and it is not unfit to remember that the Kings and great men of Egypt had much cost bestowed upon them after they were dead For in as much as Arabia was neare unto them whence they had most precious balmes and other costly Spices they did with charge embalme their dead and that with such curious art that the flesh thereof and the skin will remaine unputrified for divers hundred years and all learned men
not fulfilled there was some vengeance orpunishments executed upon them or their Children the more to keep them in awe servility to the great enemy of mankind Not long after the Spaniards entred those parts there were in divers of the Islands and some parts of the Main such incredible tempests and disturbances of the Aire by winde and rain thunder and lightning as that the like had never been seen nor heard of in the memory of man which are ordinarilie interpreted to be the speciall work of the Devill who not unfitly is termed by Saint Paul the Prince of the Aire as having a liberty given him of God there sometimes to do strange executions and of likelyhood he did make these stirs either grieving that the name of Christ was at all brought into those parts or else seeking to fright the Inhabitants from associating themselves with those who brought although but superstitiously the knowledge of God and the Redeemer being desirous that they should look for more such distemperatures and vexations if they would confederate themselves with them The people were so ignorant of all humane and civill conversation and trafficking into those parts at the first comming of the Christians thther that they thought they could never sufficiently admire their persons their shipping or any other thing which they brought with them Whereupon they without ceasing gazed on the manner of their Ships seeing them to be so great and consisting of divers Plancâ—…es But they were never satisfied with staring upon their Mastes Sayles Cables and other Ropes and Tacklings whereunto they had never beheld any thing like before and yet nature and necessity had taught them to make unto themselves certain Vessels for the Sea of some one tree which they did use to get down not with cutting but with fire and when it lay along upon the ground they did use also fire either to burn away that which was tough and unfit without or to make it hollow within although they have also the shels and bones of Fishes whereby they made smooth But some of these Troughes or Canoes were so great that sometimes above twenty men have been found rowing in one The Trees of America but especially in Brasilia being so huge that it is reported of them that several famâ—…les have lived in several arms of one Tree to such a number as are in some petty Villages or Parish in Christendome Among other strange opinions which they conceived of the Spaniards this was one that they were the sons of some god and not born of mortall seed but sent down from Heaven unto them and this conceit was the stronger in them because at the first in such conflicts as they had with them they could kill few or none of them the reason whereof was partly the armour of the Spaniards and partly the want of Iron and Steele upon the Arrowes which the Americans did shoot but they were not very long of that opinion that they were immortal but reformed that errour both by seeing the dead corps of some of the Christians and by trying an experiment upon some of them also for they took of them and put their heads under the water and held them till they were choaked by which they knew them to be of the same nature as other men Among other points which did shew the great ignorance and unlettered stupiditie of these Indians this was one that they could not conceive the force of writing of Letters insomuch that when one Spaniard would send unto another being distant in place in India with any provision and would write a Letter by him what the fellow had received from him the poor Indian would marvell how it should be possible that he to whom he came should be able to know all things which either himself brought or the sender directed And thereupon divers of them did think that there was some kind of spirit in the paper and marvellously stood in fear of such a thing as a Letter was This Country yeelds great abundance of strange Herbs the like whereof are not to be found in other parts of the World as also some very rare beasts as one among the rest who by Peter Martyrs description hath some part like an Elephant some part like an Horse and divers other parts like divers other Beasts Nature having studied to expresse a great many several creatures in one There are also found at the Sea or within some Rivers Crocodiles but not of that hugenesse as those that breed in Aegypt in the River Nilus whereof some are described by Pliny to be at the least 24. Cubits in length which argues the Crocodile to be the greatest creature in the world that comes of an Egg. There are also thereabout some extraordinary Stones growing in the Land as above others the Blood stones whereof there are great store but especially there is one thing of great beauty and worth that is the abundance of Pearles which are taken in shell-fishes and are of a great quantity as any that be in the Seas near to the East-Indies â—…o that the true cause of the plenty of Pearle in Europe in this our Age beyond that incomparably which hath been in the dayes of our forefathers is to be ascribed to the discovery of these New-found Lands There are also here divers Trees which are not to be found elsewhere and many Roots which serve for divers purposeâ—… Among other things whereof there is great plenty in those Westerne parts is the abundance of Kine and Buls whereof they report that there is such store in Guba and Hispaniola that there are killed â—…own divers thousands every year whereof the Spaniard maketh no other use but to take the Tallow or the Hide which serveth them in their shipping and for divers other purposes but the flesh or the most part of them they suffer for to putrifie as making little account of it partly because of the heat of the Country wherein they eat little flesh and partly because they have store of Hens and other more dainty meat whereupon together with fish they do very much feed It may seem a kind of miracle unto him who looketh no higher than the ordinary rules of Nature and doth not expect the extraordinary and unlimited power of God that whereas a great part of America doth lie in the Zona Torrida in the self same climate with Aethiopia and the hottest parts of the East-Indies where the inhabitants are not only tawny as all be in Aegypt and in Mauritania but also coale-black and very Negroes here there should be no man whose colour is black except it be those which are brought out of Africa but that the people should be oâ—… a reasonable fair complexion which is to be ascribed only unto Gods peculiar will and not to that which some foolishly have imagined that the generative seed of those people should be whiâ—…e and that other of the Aethiopians black
issueth into divers streets of it as it is in Venice and from some part whereof there are diver Bridges unto the main Land mad also of brick but from the other â—…des men do come by boats where of there is abundant store continually going in that Lake The Writers do record thaâ—… there is to be found in this City a bundance of all kind of provision but especially fruits and other delightfull things which are brought in from other parts of the Countrey This was the chief City of all those quarters before the arrivall of the Spaniards there and in subjection thereunto were many large Provinces extending themselves every way so that the King of this place was a Prince of great estate And accordingly thereunto the Spaniards at this day have made it their chiefe and royall City where the King keeps his Vice-Roy of Mexico for the West-Indies as he hath his Vice-Roy at Goa for the East-Indies and from thence have all the parts of America but especially that which they call Hispania nova their directions and hence they fetch their Laws Ordinances and determinations unlesse it be such great causes as are thought fit to be referred to the Councell of Spaine The Sea which confineth neerest unto this City is called the Gulph of Mexico where as in divers other Bayes or Gulphes the stream or current is such that ships cannot passe directly to and fro but especially out of the Gulph that they are forced to take their course either high to the North or low to the South In and neer unto this Gulph are divers Iland conquered and inhabited by the Spaniards as the forenamed Cuba and Hispaniola where the Spaniards were visited by our English in the time of Queen Elizabeth and their Towns of Sancto Domingo and Saint Jago taken by Sir Francis Drake as also Jarvaica and Boriquen otherwise called the Iland of Saint Phu where the Earle of Cumberland took the Town of Porto-Ricco and many other Islands of lesse note In the Sea coasts of all this Nova Hispania the King of Spaine have built many Towns and Castles and therein have erected divers Furnaces and Forges for the Trying and Fining of their Gold They that do write of the discovery of the West-Indies do report that when Columbus at the first went thitherward in their greatest distraction and doubtfulnesse of minde whether to go forward or backward and Columbus had begged only two or three daies respite there was one of his company who after the Sea manner going up to discover the Land did espie some fire for the which being so happy and lucky a token he did hope to receive at the hands of the King of Spaine some bountiful reward but when he returned home there was nothing at all given unto him which he took with that malecontentednesse and disdaine that he fled over into Africa and there among the Moores did apostate and renounce the Christian faith so that he became a Saracen Of the parts of America towards the North. THE rumor of the discovery of these parts being blown over Christendome and the great quantitie of the Land together with the fruitfulness thereof being reported abroad some other Nations did enterprize to set foot therein as namely the Frenchmen who sent certain ships to a part of this Country lying North from Hispania nova some few degrees without the Tropick of Cancer into which when they had arrived because of the continuall greennesse of the ground and trees as if it had been a perpetual spring they called it Florida where after some few of them had for a time setled themselves the Spaniards took notice of it and being unwilling to endure any such neighbours they came suddenly on them and most cruelly slew them all without taking any ransome And the French in revenge of this deed of the Spaniards came in again afterwards into this Country and slew those that were the slaiers of their country men yet the Syaniards for want of men are not able to inhabite that Countrey but leave it to the old people The French had built in Florida upon the River of Mayo where they were visited by our Sir John Hawkins a Fort which they called Fort Carolin and had reasonably assured themselves for their defence against the Natives but some malicious spirits amongst them fled to the Spaniards with whom they return again into Florida to the murther and overthrow of their own Country-men He who list to see both the attempt of the French-men for the inhabiting of that part and the usage of the Spaniards towards them let him read the Expedition into Florida which is the end of Benzo's story concerning the New found World and there he shall find both the covetous and infatiable nature of the Spaniards who would not endure the French neere unto them although there was land sufficient and much to spare for both of them also their perfidiousnesse in breaking of Oaths and promises and their unchristian cruelty whereby they massacred all The Spaniards also to the number of three hundred foot and two hundred horse under the conduct of Ferdinando de Sota entred Florida about the year of our Lord 1550. and there conquered a thousand miles wide and large and after four or five yeares continuance in that Country betook themselves again from thence and went to new Spain landing at Panuc in Ships and Vessels that they had built in Florida And in all that time notwithstanding many conflicts with the natives and divers discommodities and wants which they sustained in the Countrey they lost but two hundred men After this departure of the Spaniards out of Florida brought thither by Ferdinando de Sota who died in the Country after the defeat of the French and their revenge again taken on the Spaniards the King of Spaine sent thither some small forces to take possession of the Country and sit down there for no other end as it is thought but to keep out other Nations from entring there the one half whereof set down on the River of Saint Augustine and the other half a dozen leagues from thence to the Northward at a place by them called Saint Helena In the year 1586. as Sir Francis Drake came coasting along from Cartagena a City in the main land to which he put over and took it after he departed from Sancto Domingo when the mortality that was amongst our English had made them to give over their enterpriâ—…e to go with Nombre de Dios and so over land to Panama there to have stricken the stroake for the Treasure he was on the coast of Florida in the height of thirty our men discryed on the shore a place built like a Beacon which was made for men to discover to Sea-ward so comming to the shore they marched along the Rivers side till they came to a Fort built all of whole trees which the Spaniards called the Fort of Saint John where the
them which they do with great pleasure For divers of the People of those quarters as the Caribees and the Cannibals and almost all are eaters of mans flesh In this Country groweth abundance of that wood which since is brought into Europe to die red colours and is of the place whence it commeth called Brasil wood the trees whereof are exceeding great The people of Brasil where Lyrius and his fellows lived are called by the name of Tauvaupinambaltii by description of whose qualities many things may be learned concerning the rest of the inhabitants neere thereobout First then they have no letters among them and yet seem to be very capable of any good understanding as appeared by the speech of some of them reproving the Frenchmen for their great greedinesse and coveâ—…ousness of gain when they would take so much pains as to come from another end of the world to get commodities there Their computation is onely by the Sun and Moon whom they hold to be of a Divine nature and although they know nothing truly concerning God yet they have a dark opinion that the soule doth live after the seperation from the body The men and women throughout the whole Countrey do go starke naked even very few of them having any thing on to cover their privities onely some of them do pull some kind of ornaments thorow their eares and the most of them have their lower lip boared thorow with a great hole therein putting some device or other They look very disguisedly but they are wonderful straight of limb and proportion insomuch that the Author writeth that in all the time wherein he lived among them he saw not one crooked backt or mis-shapen in any part whereof seeking to give a reason he ascribeth it to this that their children are never swathed or bound about with any thing when they are first born but are put naked into the bed with their parents to lie which beds are devised of Cotton wooll and hung up between two trees not far from the ground in the which flagging down in the middle men and their wives and their children do lie together But whether this be the true reason of the straightnesse of their bodies it may be doubted from the authority of S. Hierom who in one of his treatises mentioning that the children of the noblest and greatest Romans in his time were very crooked when other which were breed of meaner parents were not so imputeth it to this cause that the Gentlewomen of Rome in a kind of wantonness did not suffer their infants to be so long swathed as poorer people did and that thereby their joynts and members not being tied and restrained within compass did flye out of proportion Certainly howsoever there may be some reasons naturally given of these things it is much to be ascribed to the immediate will of God who giveth and taketh away beauty at his pleasure The men of these parts are very strong and able of body and therefore either give sound strokes with their clubs where with they fight or else shoot strong shoots with their bows whereof they have plenty if any of them be taken in the wars after they have been cramed of pur pose to be eaten of their enemies they are brought forth to execution wherein marvellous willingly they do yeeld themselves to death as supposing that nothing can be more honourable unto them then to be taken and to die for their Country He therefore who is to kil the other doth with very much insolency and pride insult over him which is to be slain saying thou art he which would'st have spoyled and destroyed us and ours but now I am to recompence thee for thy pains and the other without all fear replies Yea I am he that would have done it and would have made no spare if I had prospered in mine intent and other such sutable words shewing their resolution to conquer or willingly to die in the common cause of themselves and their people It is strange to see the inhumane and unatural custome which many of the people of the West Indies have for there are whole Islands full of such Canibals as do eat mans flesh and amongst the rest these 〈◊〉 are famous that way who when they are disposed to have any great meeting or to have any solemne feast they kill some of their adversaries whom they keep in store for that purpose cutting him out into collops which they call Boucan they will lay them upon the coals and for divers dayes together make great mirth in devouring them wherein they have this fashion very strange that so long as they are in their eating banquet although it continue divers daies they do never drink at all but afterwards when they are disposed to fall to drinking of a certain liquor which they have amongst them they will continue bousing at it for two or three dayes and in the mean time never eat In many parts both of Hispania nova and Peru as also in the Islands neer adjoyning they have an herbe whereof they make great use of which some is brought into divers parts of Europe under the name of Tobacco Paetum or Nicosiana although we have also much conterfeit of the same the people of those parts do use it as Physick to purge themselves of humours and they apply it also to the filling of themselves the smoak of it being received through a leafe or some such hollow thing into the nostrils head and stomack and causing the party which receiveth it to lie as if he were drunk or dead for a space needing no food or nourishment in the mean while Whereof it cannot be denied but that it is possible that by prescript of Physick it may by serviceable for some purposes among us although that also it be very disputable in as much as they who speak most highly of it must and do confess that the force of it is obstupâ—…factive and no other whereby it produceth his own effects and wise men should be wary sparing in receiveing of such a thing But when we do consider the vaine and wanton use which many of our Country-men have of late taken up in receiving of this Tobacco not only many times in in a day but even at meat and by the way to the great waste both of their purse and of their bodies we may wel deplore the vanity of the nation who thereby purpose themselves as ridiculous to the French and other our neighbours And certainly if it were possible that our worthy warlike and valiant Progenitors might behold their manners who do most delight therein they would wonder what a generation had succeeded in their rooms who addict themselves to so fond and worse than effeminate passion Benzo who lived among them of the West Indies doth call the smell of it a Tartarus and hellish savour And whatsoever looketh into those Books which our Christians travelling